Net crimes against kids: UK study

The victimization of online kids figured prominently in the findings of a recent British Home Office survey on Internet crime. The survey, of "53 Internet and technology experts" looked specifically at "criminal threats posed by new technology," The Scotsman recently reported. From the perspective of these tech professionals, 7 of the 10 "most serious Net crime threats" were related to pedophilia and child-porn. For example, "increased grooming [of children by online pedophiles] and possible stalking across the Net" led the list. Three others among the 10 crimes were "increased access to pedophile content [child porn] sold by organized criminals ... online"; "use of online storage for pedophile images to bypass seizure of home computers"; and "use of secure 'peer to peer' [file-sharing] technology for all types of pedophile activity."

The goods news is, the European Union recently announced a 45 million euro ($60m), multi-year program to help protect online kids, Reuters reports. The program follows a "38m euro ($51m) project "that led to the creation of 'hotlines' where parents could report illegal [child pornography] found on the Internet. It will increase the number of hotlines, finance technology to filter out pornography, and raise awareness among parents and children." According to EC figures, "around 60% of children regularly surf the Internet in Scandinavia and countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, Estonia, and the Czech Republic."